Pages

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Tessa is engaged and should be happy but her heart is
torn between Jem, the man she has promised to be with forever and his best
friend Will, who Tessa is struggling to hide her feelings for. However, after
an unusual demon fight, the Institute finds out that Jem has been taking more Yin
Fen to hide the fact that he is more ill than they thought and they have to
fight against time to find a cure for him. At the same time Mortain is getting
closer to destroying the Shadowhunters and the Consul does not believe or support
them. Tessa has to figure out what she is and who she should be with before
Mortain uses it against her.

Clockwork Princess is the third and final novel in the
Infernal Devices series which up to about 2 thirds of the book through I thought
it was amazing. However, in the last third there were some thing’s that that
happened put me off it, and annoyed me, however, it is still a decent book.

I liked the secondary characters in this book and how
they all interacted with each other, however, it does get annoying that
everyone has to be in relationships to be happy.

SPOILER

I have two reasons why I did not like this book compared
to Clare’s other novels. Firstly, after only hours of thinking that Tessa Fiancé
and Will best friend, Jem, had died, they sleep together, I really did not like
this as it is really selfish of both of them and they obviously did not care as
much about Jem as they thought or they would not do that straight after they
thought he had died. Secondly the ending did not seem all that realistic as
after everything that happened it felt like the easy option to make Jem a
Silent Brother, Tessa marry Will and then in modern day Jem and Tessa get
together.

SPOILER END

I was rather disappointed by the final of this series and
I hope that City of Heavenly Fire is a better final book. I would recommend
Clockwork Princess to people who like the rest of Cassandra Clare’s work, even
though it is not her best.

Tessa Gray has found a home at the Institute with the
Shadowhunters but this might not last as the Clave might replace Charlotte as
the head of the Institute if they cannot find the magister in a fortnight.
Tessa, Will and Jem have to find out about the Magister’s past to understand
what he wants and why he hates the Shadowhunters. At the same time Tessa is trying
to hate Will after how he treated her on the roof but she is finding it hard to
stop her feelings for him, however, at the same time she has grown really close
to Jem but will she be able to choose between the two of them.

Clockwork Prince is the amazing second book in the Infernal
Devices series with romance, humour action and a well written love triangle. I love
the references to what is to come in the Mortal Instruments as it really
connects the two series together.

The characters are the same people that we come loved
from the last book but they have grown in strength and are even more complex.
Thought I normally hate love triangles this book is the exception as I don’t
know who I want Tessa to end up with and I don’t know how Clare will resolve it
without hurting anyone.

I love this book and cannot wait to see how this series
ends with Clockwork Princess. I would recommend Clockwork Prince to readers of
Clockwork Angel or the Mortal Instruments series.

After the death of her aunt, Tessa Gray travels from New
York to Victorian London to meet her brother Nathaniel, at the dock she is met
by the Dark Sisters who said they were sent by her brother to get her. Six
weeks later and Tessa is being forced to magically change by the Dark Sisters
for someone called the Magister. She is rescued by some Shadowhunters, a group
of people, who are half human and half angel, and there job is to protect
humans from Downworlders such as vampires and warlocks. As Tessa helps the Shadowhunters
uncover who the Magister is and find her brother she finds herself drawn to 2 Shadowhunter
best friends Will and Jem.

Clockwork Angel is the first in a prequel series to the
Mortal Instruments and I love the mixture of steampunk and paranormal elements.
This book is brilliant as it has all the things I have grown to love about
Clare’s work as it has action, romance and humour.

I really like Tessa as she is in a strange city,
surrounded by unfamiliar people but she copes with it really well, plus she
loves reading. All the other characters are really well written especially Will
seems to not care about anyone but has a dark secret which makes him
intriguing. However, it seems that a lot of the people in this book are similar
to those in the Mortal Instruments and I hope Clare moves away from this in the
Clockwork Prince.

Clockwork Prince is a brilliant novel which I would
recommend to people who like Cassandra Clare’s work or who like Steampunk books.

Friday, 15 March 2013

Thanks to Netgalley and Smith Publicity for giving this
book to review.

Bijou Fitzroy has always known that she is different but
all she has wanted to be is normal even though she is loves the faceless boy
from her dreams, after living all her life alone with only her grandmother,
nicknamed Gigi, for company, she has convinced Gigi to be able to go to school
instead of being home-schooled. At school she meets Sebastian who makes her
rethink everything she has known, whether she can trust the people closest to
her and is she able to be the saviour everyone expects her to be.

Concealed is an ok young adult paranormal book about Djinn,
the book felt like there was too many plots going on at once so most of the
time I felt lost about what was happening.

I just could not connect to Bijou or any of the other
characters as they were not consistent in how they acted, however I did like
how no character was either truly bad or good but somewhere in between.

Concealed is an ok story which I would recommend to
people who like Smokeless Fire by Samantha Young or books about Djinn.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, Children’s for
giving this book to review.

Mila and her mother have moved to a small town after a
fire that killed her father, but she can only remember bits and pieces of her
past, then she meets Hunter who helps her deal with the death of her father.
However, after an accident, she discovers that she is not human but an android
and all her life has been a lie. Now Mila and the woman she has always thought
of as her mother have to run away from the people who made her and want to
rewrite her or kill her because she is too human.

Mila 2.0 is a likable YA sci-fi thriller about a girl who
is a machine with feelings, it has a fairly slow first half but makes up for it
in the second as it is action-packed.

The characters are the weakest part of this book as I found
hard to connect to them, especially the secondary characters, as they seemed to
be only in the book to help the story but not as real people. The romance is
also not the best as Mila is thinking about Hunter way too much considering
they only meet a few times, although I think Hunter is meant to represent her
human side.

Mila 2.0 is a nice
but predictable and I would recommend this to people who like Crewel or The
Darkest Minds.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Dusty Everhart is a Nightmare, a magical creature who
feeds off people’s dreams, and tonight she sneaks into Eli Booker’s House, who
is a hot boy from her old school, and sees he is dreaming of a murder. However,
when his dream becomes true, Dusty discovers that she and Eli are Dream-Seer’s and
that when she feeds off his dreams they can see the future. Now Dusty has to figure
out the clues both inside and outside the dreams to stop the killer, before the
murderer knows what she is up too.

The Nightmare Affair is a YA paranormal book which I liked
as it has romance, magic and interesting characters. However, the storyline is
very predictable as I could guess what was going to happen next and how the
story was going to go from a third of the way through.

I liked Dusty as she is so different from most YA
paranormal heroines as she is not overdramatic and does not need to rely on
anyone but does because she wants to. I also like how this book explored lots
of different types of paranormal creatures as well as the normal types.

The Nightmare Affair is a nice light YA book which I would
recommend to people who like My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent.

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Thanks to Netgalley and Strange Chemistry for giving this
book to review.

Becca has spent all her life protecting her brother
Ryland from people who though he is crazy, but when two representatives arrive
from a school in Ireland called St Brigid, saying they can help Ryland, Becca does
not trust them especially as their father who abandoned them when Ryland was a
baby is at the school. However, one of the representatives called Alex explains
that the voices Ryland hears are the thoughts of others and that he is a Holder,
a person with incredible powers. Becca agrees that her brother can go, as long
as she can come to and check everything ok for him. As Becca and Ryland fit in
and enjoy St Brigid and Becca is deepening feelings for Alex, she has to decide
whether she can trust them or do they have an alternative motive.

The Holders is an enjoyable YA paranormal novel that very
predictable but is still really nice and light.

Becca is a really likable character who will do anything
to protect her family and I can really identify with. Alex is also a nice
person as, even with all he has been through, he is still kind, loyal and
giving.

The Holders is likable book and I hope there is another in
this series, I would recommend this to people who like Need by Carrie Jones.

14 year old Ismae manages to escape her abusive father
and brutality of her arranged marriage, and flees to the convent of St Mortain,
who is the old God of death. Now as a 17 year old she is an assassin and
handmaiden to death and is going to the high court of Brittany to protect the
young Duchess. As she is drawn into the treason and intrigue of court life, she
finds it difficult to know who to believe in, the convent who has protected her
or the person who has stolen her heart.

Grave Mercy is a young adult historical fantasy book
which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. It is full of intrigue, romance,
action and killer nuns.

I really like Ismae as she comes across as a kick-ass assassin
but inside she is really vulnerable and does not know who to trust. I like the
love interest but it was very obvious and for two smart people they missed a
lot of the signals they were giving each other.

The writing came across as very modern which clashed a
bit with the historical setting of the book, I would have preferred if it was
set in a different world like most fantasy books rather than the past. However,
LaFevers is very good at keeping you guessing who the traitor is and what would
be happening next.

I really liked this book and I look forward to what happens
next in Dark Triumph. I would recommend this book to people who like Scarlet by
A C Gaughen or The Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo.